The Cricket World Cup 2023 is only days away from its commencement. While most teams have looked to fully prepare themsleves with ODI assignments beforehand, every team will also have the opportunity to test their players in warm-up fixtures which are starting on September 29. The warm-up fixtures have been spread across four days, with multiple matches being held simultanously. The venues for the warm-up fixtures are Guwahati, Trivandrum and Hyderabad. As for the Indian team, they will be up against England and Netherlands in their two practice matches.
September 29, 2023 (Friday)
- Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- South Africa v Afghanistan, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
- New Zealand v Pakistan, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
September 30, 2023 (Saturday)
- India v England, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- Australia v Netherlands, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
October 2, 2023 (Monday)
- England v Bangladesh, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- New Zealand v South Africa, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
October 3, 2023 (Tuesday)
- Afghanistan v Sri Lanka, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- India v Netherlands, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
- Pakistan v Australia, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels the warm-up matches will give the teams a great opportunity to 'tighten the nut bolts'.
"The importance of practice games is similar to tightening nut bolts. So, the Indian team has two practice matches and in those games, they can tighten any screws if they want to, such as batting of Ravindra Jadeja or the combination they are looking forward to play with or the players who are not in great form, they should be given more opportunities so that they can test their game especially in the last few overs. These are the advantages of playing the warm-up matches," he told Star Sports during a chat.
Pakistan legend Wasim Akram, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the warm-up games are important for teams to assess the conditions in India.
"Warm-up matches gives you an idea about the conditions because you are going to play in another country. It gives you an idea about the conditions of the pitches when you play the warm-up games. Then, if you have some weaknesses in your team, you try to fix those things by playing these games. The intensity and pressure does not remain same as the actual matches. Thus, there are no worries of winning or losing the game, so due to not having those kind of pressures, you can fluently work on your weaknesses. So, I feel every team has already made some plans around these warm-up matches and also will keep an eye on the teams which they will play against because they have to play big matches after these warm-up games with those opponents. So, they will get to know their weaknesses and can exploit them accordingly. I think warm-up matches, as I said, there will be not that kind of intensity, but obviously, you can work on your weaknesses and make your game better," he said.